Stop natural gas drilling on Montana's Rocky Mountain Front.

© Ralph Maughan

Your voice can be decisive.  Act now.

Startech Energy, a Canadian company, has applied to drill for natural gas in Blindhorse Canyon, a BLM Outstanding Natural Area, northwest of Choteau. Drilling would proceed under a lease with the BLM (Bureau of Land Management.)

Drilling would be devastating to the wildlife and wild values of the Front.  This is exceptional grizzly bear habitat.  Blindhorse Canyon provides critical winter range to elk, bighorns, mule deer and whitetails.  The wild beauty of the canyon is unsurpassed.

Development will damage a fragile landscape, and necessitate the construction of roads and pipelines through pristine areas.  Drilling activities, including lights and the noise of pumps and drill rigs, will go on around the clock.  One hundred truckloads of equipment will be hauled to the drill site in the heart of a wild area.

If Blindhorse goes forward, it could be a first step in destroying the wild values of the Front.  Dozens of potential gas sites exist on the Front. Blindhorse could be the start of widespread industrial development. This wild landscape would be changed forever.

We have to stop it.

ROBBING THE FUTURE

Drilling and industrialization will rob the Front of its future as wilderness. Once-wild areas crossed with roads, pipelines and powerlines will no longer qualify for wilderness designation.  The wild legacy of thousands of years will vanish.

PUBLIC INPUT COUNTS

The BLM is now performing an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) for the Startech application on Blindhorse.  The EIS will evaluate the effects of drilling activities on wildlife, riparian areas, and watershed. The report will determine if drilling activities go forward. 
 

The BLM will accept comments from the public on the drilling proposal, by letter or by email, until June 1.  Public meetings and written comments become part of the EIS record.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Write a letter.

Send a letter or email to the BLM telling them NO to development of the Blindhorse site, and NO to gas drilling on the Front. Tell the BLM YES for protecting the wild values of the Front that you love and cherish.

Stress these points concerning the proposed Blindhorse lease:

* Drilling will fragment the landscape and deprive wildlife of critical winter range.

* Drilling will damage grizzly bear habitat and deprive grizzlies of crucial spring mating range.

* Drilling will have a negative impact on the Front's elk herds, lessening opportunities for hunters, resulting in monetary losses to outfitters and the local economy. 

* Drilling will pollute pristine water sources and damage riparian areas.

* Traditional outdoor recreation opportunities such as hiking, backpacking and fishing will be harmed by drilling.  

* Noise and lights associated with drilling will destroy the peace and solitude of this wild area.

* Roads and pipelines will forever mar the wild beauty of the canyon.

 

Make your love of the Front known. Relate your family's history of recreation, hunting, and enjoyment on the Front.  Personal memories will make the greatest impression on the BLM.

 

Send your letters before June 1. Address your letters to:

Blackleaf Project EIS Team Leader,

Bureau of Land Management, Lewistown Field Office

P.O. Box 1160

Lewistown, MT   59457

Send your email messages to:   mt_blackleaf_eis@blm.gov

 

TELL MONTANA'S  SENATORS AND CONGRESSMAN TOO.

 

The future of the Front is and must be wilderness.  A first step to giving the Front the wilderness designation it deserves is to purchase or "trade out" all gas leases on the Front for other federal leases, in areas more appropriate for drilling. This would require an act of Congress.  Write Montana's senators and lone congressman telling them they should support a bill that would buy back or trade the leases on the Rocky Mountain Front.  This would be a beginning towards preserving this magnificent wild landscape for future generations.

Also send a copy to our senators and congressman of your letter to the BLM against development on the  Blindhorse site.

Senator Max Baucus:

511 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510-2602

Ph:  202-224-2651

Fax: 202-224-4700

Toll free from Montana: 1-800-332-6106

max@baucus.senate.gov

Senator Conrad Burns:

187 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510-2603

Ph:    202-224-2644

Fax:  202-228-2034

Toll free from Montana: 1-800-344-1513

conrad_burns@burns.senate.gov

Rep. Dennis Rehberg

516 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515-2601

Ph:    202-225-3211

Fax:  202-225-5687

In Montana:  1-406-454-1066

www.house.gov/Rehberg